To James Torbitt   [28 February 1878]1

R.B. Litchfield’s | 4 Bryanston Street

Private

Dear Sir

Telegram received, delayed by being addressed Bryanston Sqe.2 I hear that the Potatoes have reached Down.3

Too unwell to call on Mr. Farrer so I asked him to call on me— have had long interviews— will consider your printed letter and if he agrees with me (as I think and hope he will) will consider what Department of Government to apply to— thinks Duke of Richmond— says Government will probably apply to Sir J. Hooker for advice, so I have written to him, urging him to read carefully your printed letter when he receives a copy.4

I have added some fresh arguments. Can write no more

Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Forwarded the substance of your Telegram to Mr. Farrer.5

Seems to me important to know this— Can you specify what sum of money you would require, making it as moderate as you can? Mr. Farrer says the Eastern question is much against any attention being paid to any new subject.6

Copy

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter to J. D. Hooker, 28 [February 1878], and the letter to James Torbitt, 1 March 1878.
2
The telegram has not been found, but for its contents, see the letter from James Torbitt, 28 February 1878. Torbitt had evidently addressed the telegram to Bryanston Square, rather than Bryanston Street (the home of CD’s daughter Henrietta Emma Litchfield, where CD was staying).
3
Torbitt had evidently sent samples of potato tubers to Down, probably like the ones described in the enclosure to the letter from James Torbitt, 24 February 1878.
4
In his letter of 26 February 1878, CD had asked Torbitt to send copies of Torbitt’s printed letter to the chancellor of the Exchequer (enclosure to letter from James Torbitt, 24 February 1878), Thomas Henry Farrer, and Joseph Dalton Hooker. Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, the sixth duke of Richmond, was president of the Royal Agricultural Society.
5
See n. 2, above.
6
The ‘eastern question’ refers to the instability of Ottoman Empire, and specifically in this period to the threat of war with Russia. Following the decisive Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8, other European states were alarmed by the increase of Russian influence in the region. Britain had threatened to go to war if Russia occupied Constantinople (Istanbul); see Mackenzie 1993, pp. 239–42.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11383,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11383